[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: CEO challenges Class Size dogma

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
CEO challenges Class Size dogma
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1228369894.shtml


   Lou Gestner Jr came over from a tobacco company to rescue IBM not
   quite twenty years ago. The once invincible diadem of American
   industry needed such an outsider when its bureaucracy and heretofore
   internal succession had posted its first loss in decades. Of late he
   has been dabbling in education reform, writing a piece in the Wall
   Street Journal recently.
   I didn't find it very compelling overall, especially the parts about
   nationalizing K-12 by all but eliminating local districts. Personally,
   I think the article's best contribution to the debate is rather
   casually included in his four point agenda for change.

     This is a complex problem, but countless experiments and analyses
     have clearly indicated we need to do four straightforward things to
     bring fundamental changes to K-12 education:
    1. Set high academic standards for all of our kids, supported by a
       rigorous curriculum.
    2. Greatly improve the quality of teaching in our classrooms,
       supported by substantially higher compensation for our best
       teachers.
    3. Measure student and teacher performance on a systematic basis,
       supported by tests and assessments.
    4. Increase "time on task" for all students; this means more time in
       school each day, and a longer school year.

     Everything else either does not matter (e.g., smaller class sizes)
     or is supportive of these four steps (e.g., vastly improve schools
     of education).

   Did you see it? Smaller class sizes do not matter.
   Clearly there is a limit to how efficient, let alone effective a large
   class can be, even with adequate space and creative technology. Less
   clear I think is that classes can also be too small for both teachers
   and students, for reasons I'll save for another time. But within that
   range, say 15 to 35 students, does class size truly matter?
   Certainly, obviously, say the districts. It's part of every operating
   levy referendum, the concern for overly large classes and the relief
   the referendum will bring.
   Critics like Jay Greene contend that there's just no significant
   evidence to support the large additional expense of smaller classes.
   Plus, he argues, going significantly deeper into the labor pool means
   hiring less capable teachers.
   More than once I have surfed the web looking for such evidence on
   class sizes. If there is compelling evidence out there, I couldn't
   find it. There's a little, but I think it's pretty thin soup on which
   to manage a school district. I also note the finding of the Bill and
   Melinda Gates Foundation that smaller schools should be the goal.
   Large districts with declining enrollment are increasingly having to
   ask which to value more: neighborhood schools or smaller classes. So
   far, the latter seems to be winning every time while school after
   school is closed.
   This should be a good campaign issue for those running for School
   Board, maybe the most important of all.